Quarterback Carson Palmer’s pass to the wide receiver was incomplete, but Ward delivered a blow that leveled Shipley.
“The pass got knocked down and I took two or three extra steps, looked up and got hit,” Shipley said. “T.J. had been coming with a full head of steam. I think the first thing that hit the ground was the back of my head. Not an ideal situation.”
He said “it was a late hit, but not super late.”
Ward was fined $15,000. The fallout from that hit and others the next week was dramatic. Much larger fines were levied against three other players and the NFL announced that it would suspend — not just fine — players for violent conduct.
“That was the same week they started fining everybody really, really big,” Shipley said. “I was right in the middle of it.”
Shipley said he suffered “about a half dozen” concussions during his playing career, but the hit in Cleveland was the worst.
“The scary part for me was I came to in the locker room — and I walked off the field,” he said. “But I don’t remember any of that.”
Shipley said he passed his concussion test two days later and returned to the field.
He caught 52 passes that season, but a serious knee injury limited him to two games in 2011.
The Bengals released Shipley during training camp the next year, but he played six games for Jacksonville. He announced his retirement in January 2014.
Shipley, an avid hunter, now works as a co-host for The Bucks of Tecomate, which airs on Outdoor Channel.
“I turned down the chance to come back and play because how can you do better than your dream job?” he said.
Shipley has been married for 4 1/2 years and says if he has children he would allow them to play football.
“I wouldn’t tell them they couldn’t if it’s something they’re passionate about,” he said. “That’s something my wife and I have talked about. She knows some of the injury things I’ve been through and it’s not only the concussion stuff.”
Shipley grew up in Texas but didn’t play football until he was in the seventh grade. That’s when his father, a football coach, gave him the green light.
“He wanted my body to develop and not get burned out.”
Shipley says he accepted the risks that came with being an NFL player and knows former teammates who “aren’t the same because of concussions.” But he doesn’t support radical rules changes to America’s most popular sport.
“Safety is the biggest thing, but there comes a point in life that if you sit around and be afraid about everything that can happen you couldn’t even go to the grocery store for fear you’d get run over or fall down and crack your head.”
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